Such installations are known and serve the purpose of disposing of articles including matter which is liable to explode or explodable, e.g. ammunition, rockets, pyrotechnic sets, etc., especially from the military field. The reasons for disposal either are that the articles mentioned have reached a certain age from which on the defined characteristics assured upon manufacture of the substances which are liable to explode or explodable and required for their use can no longer be guaranteed or because, for example, weapons systems have been developed further and the ammunition already produced and on stock for those weapons systems can no longer be applied for their destined use.
The substances liable to explode or explodable mentioned above will be designated hereinafter by the term "explosives". That is generally understood to be solid, liquid, or gelatinous substances and mixtures of substances produced for purposes of detonating or propelling. However, in the instant case also substances which have not been made for the purpose of detonation or shooting also are combined under the term of explosives, such as organic peroxides as catalysts, gas release agents of present day foam and plastics engineering, some pesticides, and many others. Likewise included, for instance, is the well known mixture "thermite" which is understood as being mixtures of aluminum and iron oxide which react while developing a large amount of heat, forming aluminum oxide and iron. This development of heat is utilized for example for welding rails.
Explosives can be available as bulk material of any particle size, as adhesions, in the form of bodies having defined dimensions (e.g. pressed objects), or as a filler in hollow bodies. The list given by Rudolf Meyer in "Explosivstoffe", 6th edition, page 127 et seqq. may serve as an indication of the groups of substances to be understood by the term "explosives".
The disposal of explosives is realized worldwide by the so-called deflagration or detonation of these substances due to the lack of safety involved in their handling, both for the persons and the surrounding material. It is called "deflagration" because practically all explosives which are present in larger amounts continue to react upon initiation of the chemical decomposition reactions without the addition of another reactant, especially without the atmospheric oxygen which otherwise is customary in "combustion". While the aim of the burn-up of explosives is the relatively slowly progressing "deflagration" of the explosives at a combustion speed of less than 100 m per second, blow-up of explosives, as a general rule, will result in a "detonation" of the explosives which takes place at a relatively high combustion speed of from 1000 to 9000 m per seconds and is accompanied by a shock wave. Both terms "deflagration" and "detonation" will also be combined hereinafter under the term "explosion".
The known installations mentioned initially for the deflagration of explosives--predominantly--provide for deflagration in the traditional, known manner totally in the open or--as is the case, for example, with the installation described in DE-OS 38 22 648--in a security building which is given the character of an open combustion place due to its construction which includes a partially open blow-out wall. With the known installations of the first kind, the safety of persons is warranted by simple earthen protective dams which surround the place of deflagration or at least shields it in the direction of attending staff, or with an installation according to DE-0S 38 22 648 by a solid wall of a security building which wall, for example, separates the deflagration area from the feeding area.
The disadvantage of the known installations for the deflagration of explosives of the kind first mentioned resides especially in that in spite of guaranteeing the safety of persons, a reduction of emissions does not take place at all or only insufficiently due to the open or partly open (in the case of DE-OS 38 22 648) construction. During their decomposition reaction, explosives react to a large part into gaseous reaction products or also into solid substances which are contained in the resulting gaseous substances as combustion residues (ash) and/or as aerosols. With the known installations of the kind mentioned initially, these substances either are not collected at all or only insufficiently because the prerequisite for such collection of the harmful substances being released, namely a closed space with a corresponding collector seems impossible, according to the expert knowledge available so far, due to the risks involved in such a closed space in the event of an (unintended) detonation of the explosives.